Navalny’s memoir slated for U.S. release in October
During the years leading up to his death in a Russian prison, Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, was writing a memoir about his life and work as a pro-democracy activist.
Titled “Patriot,” the memoir will be published in the United States by Knopf on Oct. 22, with a simultaneous release in multiple countries.
Navalny, who rose to global prominence as a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin of Russia, resisted the Kremlin’s repeated attempts to silence him through physical harm, arrests and imprisonment in a remote Arctic penal colony, where he died in February at 47.
The book, telling his story in his own words, comes as a final show of defiance, his widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said in a statement, and could have a galvanizing effect on his followers.
“This book is a testament not only to Alexei’s life, but to his unwavering commitment to the fight against dictatorship — a fight he gave everything for, including his life,” Navalnaya said. “Through its pages, readers will come to know the man I loved deeply — a man of profound integrity and unyielding courage. Sharing his story will not only honor his memory but also inspire others to stand up for what is right and to never lose sight of the values that truly matter.”
In a news release, Knopf said that the memoir “expresses Navalny’s total conviction that change cannot be resisted and will come.”
A Russian-language edition of the book will be available.
Navalny began working on his memoir in 2020, after surviving a near-fatal poisoning with a nerve agent, an attack that Western intelligence officials believed was a state-sponsored assassination attempt. The book covers his youth, his rise as a political activist, his marriage and family, his political career as an opposition leader and the attempts on his life and attacks on those close to him, according to the publisher.
Navalny had political aspirations, but he was barred from a presidential run after a conviction on fraud charges by a Russian court, widely seen as politically motivated. He exerted his political influence in other ways: organizing protests against Putin and building offices and investigative teams across the country to uncover corruption.
In February 2021, he returned to Russia. He was arrested at the airport.
Addressing why he chose to go back to Russia to face almost certain imprisonment and possible death, Navalny said remaining in exile felt like a betrayal of his cause. “I don’t want to give up either my country or my beliefs,” Navalny wrote in a Facebook post in January, shortly before his death. “I cannot betray either the first or the second. If your beliefs are worth something, you must be willing to stand up for them. And if necessary, make some sacrifices.”